-Buffalo’s offense made good adjustments on their first series of the 2nd half, but missed other opportunities in the half.

-San Diego dominated the first half and their first drive of the second half had to affect morale on Buffalo’s sideline. The Chargers took over 7 minutes off the clock to start the third.

-Neither team was effective in the run game, but San Diego used the run game to eat time off the clock. They finished with 37 carries, I believe the same amount they had last week versus Seattle.

-EJ Manuel panicked in the pocket a lot today. He was able to use his athletic ability early but late in the game he took some unnecessary sacks and a brutal intentional grounding for a safety. His passes were off-target most of the game and at one point he was responsible for Marquise Goodwin taking a hard shot.

-Manuel was bad, but so was Buffalo’s offensive line. Chris Williams was out with a back injury early and unfortunately Urbik wasn’t much better. The entire line had a rough outing. This led to a lot of pressure for the Chargers.

-Frank Reich called a wonderful game for San Diego.

-Buffalo had over 100 yards in penalties. You won’t win any games doing that.

-Buffalo needs to go back to the drawing board against Houston. The Texans have a terrific defense so the Bills need to call a better game. Ryan Fitzpatrick will not pick the Bills apart like Rivers did however.

Sunday, September 22nd, 2013

After the euphoria of a late comeback victory over the Carolina Panthers last week, the Buffalo Bills were dealt a dose of reality Sunday with a crushing 27-20 loss to the New York Jets.

This loss was particularly upsetting in that many Buffalo fans felt this was a very winnable game. New York did everything in their power to give Buffalo this game, committing 20 penalties and 168 yards and turning the ball over twice, but the Bills were unable to capitalize on the Jets’ lack of discipline.

The hope that existed for the Bills after the Carolina game has vanished, and Bills fans are left wondering what direction this team is headed. After only three games into the season, Buffalo finds themselves with two divisional losses and is two full games out of first place in the AFC East.

This installment of “First Downs and Flags” was easy from a flags perspective.

Saturday, September 21st, 2013

Going on the road within the division is never an easy task. That’s even more true if you’re the Buffalo Bills, who haven’t had a winning record within the division since 2007. Things are finally looking up in Buffalo, with a seemingly competent coaching staff and the first hope at quarterback since Jim Kelly left town. However, if you can’t win on the road, and you can’t win within the division, there’s no chance you can be a competitive football team.

This week, the Buffalo Bills travel to East Rutherford, N.J. to take on the New York Jets in their first road game and the second divisional game of the season. This will the Bills’ first true test to show just how far they’ve come from last season.

Saturday, August 24th, 2013

Of all four preseason games, the third preseason game is supposed to be the closest to a regular-season game. Most starters around the league play for an entire half during Week 3 of the preseason, as NFL teams try to get their key players ready for regular-season action before resting them for the most part in the final preseason game on Thursday.

If Saturday’s game versus the Washington Redskins was any indication of how the Buffalo Bills will look when the real season begins, the Bills could be in for another long season. The Bills struggled mightily on both sides of the ball Saturday, and lost the game by a final score of 30-7.

That said, there’s no reason to harp on the final score: preseason results are ultimately meaningless and are often misleading. What are significant, however, are the reasons that the Bills ended up giving up so many points and scoring so few, as there were plenty of takeaways from Saturday’s game that could be cause for concern.

Saturday, August 24th, 2013

After watching Buffalo’s dress rehearsal, the Bills clearly need a lot of practice before “opening night.” There’s no way to sugarcoat this, Buffalo was outplayed in every aspect of the game in their 30-7 loss to the Redskins.

Offensively, the Bills passed for 79 yards against the Redskins. It’s time to pump the brakes on the Jeff Tuel for starting quarterback train. While the rookie has a great skill set, he was clearly in over his head against the Redskins.

Kevin Kolb’s day was much shorter as he only attempted four passes. Kolb deserves some credit for leading Buffalo to their only points of the game. Kolb showed some mobility against the Redskins, which unfortunately led to concussion-like symptoms. On the tail end of Kolb’s second run, a Redskins player connected with Kolb’s helmet. Buffalo will need to have either EJ Manuel or Kevin Kolb ready for Week 1 against the Patriots.

In the run game, C.J. Spiller scored the only touchdown of the game before making every Bills fan nervous. Spiller grabbed his knee after the play and needed medical attention. Luckily, he was declared “OK” by the team and even returned to the game.

The receiving game never really took off on Saturday afternoon as only six players caught a pass. Stevie Johnson led the way with four receptions for 28 yards.

Defensively, the team was sloppy against the run and pass. Buffalo struggled greatly in coverage on Saturday. The Redskins seemed to find their most success in the air through slant patterns. The entire secondary needs work and cannot have Jairus Byrd back soon enough. It’s rumored that Buffalo has entertained trade offers for Byrd, but after today’s game, the team should let inquiries for Byrd go to voicemail.

Sadly, the team fared even worse against the run. Buffalo gave up a total of 208 rush yards to the Redskins. Buffalo didn’t seem as aggressive on Saturday, but the performance is still very worrisome.

It is just the preseason, but today’s game showed us that there will certainly be some growing pains with such a young team.